Queer Places:
Neighborhood Playhouse, 340 E 54th St, New York, NY 10022
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028
Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum
Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA
Irene Lewisohn (September 5, 1886 – April 4, 1944) was the founder
of the
Neighborhood Playhouse, with her sister
Alice Lewisohn, and the
Museum of Costume Art, with Aline
Bernstein.[1]
Irene was an associate for many years of Lillian Wald,
and she presented to the Henry Street settlement, which Wald founded, an
80-acre farm for use as a girl's camp.
She was the daughter of Rosalie Jacobs and Leonard Lewisohn.[2][3][4] In 1905 she and her sister, Alice Lewisohn, began classes and club work at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York. They produced performances with both dance and drama. In 1915, they opened the Neighborhood Playhouse on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets.[5] There they offered training in both dance and drama to children and teenagers. Irene was in charge of the dance training and production, with the assistance of Blanche Talmud. Alice Lewisohn was in charge of the dramatic arts.[6] In 1928 they opened The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre at 16 West Forty-sixth Street.[7] The Lewisohn sisters hired lesbian couple Helen Arthur and Agnes Morgan at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
Irene Lewisohn died in 1944.[1][8][9]
The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[10]
Neighborhood Playhouse, NYC
My published books:
